The photo was of the perfume Shu Ci had given him.
No matter how you looked at it, it felt like showing off his official status.
Zhou Mingran naturally noticed too. He asked Shu Ci if he had agreed to be with Lu Xianyan, saying that agreeing so quickly meant he’d definitely be at a disadvantage.
He also said that Lu Xianyan might look quiet and reserved, but was actually sly underneath—like a dog that bites without barking.
And he warned him not to “give those things away.”
After chatting with Zhou Mingran so often, Shu Ci clearly understood what “those things” referred to. He bit the finger Lu Xianyan was playing with, thinking about how to reply.
Just then, Lu Xianyan suddenly asked, “Do you have any requirements for dating?”
Shu Ci let out a confused “Hm?”
“For example, how many messages is too many in a day? If I text too much, will you find me annoying? What do you dislike about me? Are there places I’m not allowed to touch?”
Shu Ci’s shoulders trembled slightly. Thinking about Zhou Mingran’s warning, he stammered, “Everything else is fine, but… not those things yet.”
After a pause, he added softly, “I want to take it slow.”
It was his first relationship. He wanted to treat it seriously.
He had to be reserved.
Lu Xianyan agreed immediately.
But after only three days of being Shu Ci’s boyfriend, he was already reaching his limit.
Shu Ci had absolutely no guard up around him, like a little animal sleeping belly-up without any defense. How could anyone resist that?
He endured it carefully, restraining himself while spending two more days with his little rabbit.
Finally, after the treatment session ended, Lu Xianyan noticed Shu Ci frowning.
“Did it hurt when I bit you?”
Shu Ci was honest.
His eyes were misty, cheeks flushed. “A little.”
“You’re too firm… it doesn’t feel very comfortable.”
“Sorry.” Lu Xianyan’s breathing sounded uneven. Veins stood out faintly at his temples, his voice hoarse. “When I get nervous, my muscles tense up.”
That couldn’t really be helped.
Shu Ci wasn’t picky. Understanding as always, he softly said, “Oh. It’s fine now.”
He was about to climb off Lu Xianyan when a pair of large hands gripped his waist.
“There’s another place on me that’s soft. Easier to bite.”
It sounded mysterious.
Shu Ci lifted his head, confused.
Just being stared at like that made Lu Xianyan lose control. His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly; his heart pounded wildly.
“Do you want to try biting it?”
Shu Ci was slow to react for a few seconds, and then his cheeks quickly flushed pink.
Anyone could understand it—he was asking for a kiss.
Did he think Shu Ci was stupid?
So… should he agree?
Shu Ci hesitated. When he raised his face and met Lu Xianyan’s dark eyes, for a split second he felt like the other person might devour him.
His eyelashes trembled slightly. He asked in a small voice, “Do you want to kiss me?”
There was no embarrassment on Lu Xianyan’s face at being exposed. Instead, he answered frankly, “I really want to kiss you.”
Then his voice softened.
“But I promised you I wouldn’t do anything you don’t like. I don’t want you to think I only want to be with you for those things.”
His voice carried a faint nasal tone. His eyes were watery, tears blurring his vision. After speaking, he sniffed. His cheeks were bumped red in patches, like a little cat on the verge of tears—looking pitiful and bullied.
Lu Xianyan felt both sympathy and darker thoughts rising inside him.
He suppressed his desire and gently wiped the tears from Shu Ci’s face.
Shu Ci’s skin was so soft that it seemed to sink slightly under a light touch, the surrounding flesh bunching adorably.
“Xiao Ci…” he murmured in a low voice, tinged with fascination. “You’re so beautiful.”
“Your mouth is so sweet.”
“And here… it’s sweet too.”
The first thing Shu Ci heard when he came back to his senses was that sentence. For a moment, he felt like he was being teased by a pervert. He turned his face away to stop Lu Xianyan from continuing.
Then he heard the man call him “baby.”
…Baby?
In Shu Ci’s mind, only infants were called that. Goosebumps rose on his skin. Embarrassed, he said, “…Don’t call me that. I’m already this old.”
Lu Xianyan replied shamelessly, “No matter how old you are, you’re my baby.”
This time the goosebumps crept all the way up his neck.
Shu Ci lowered his head, thought for a moment, then negotiated, “You can call me that at home. But not outside.”
Lu Xianyan nodded, rubbing his fingertips back and forth over Shu Ci’s knuckles and thumb, as if he’d received some priceless gift he couldn’t put down.
“Baby, when will we go out as a couple?”
Shu Ci got lazy in winter, like a little animal ready to hibernate. It had been raining the past few days, so even their walks were canceled.
He thought about it. “I need to check the weather forecast first…”
As he spoke, he unconsciously held out his palm toward Lu Xianyan, signaling for him to hand over his phone.
When Lu Xianyan passed it to him, Shu Ci suddenly realized—
He had already become quite used to ordering Lu Xianyan around… Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Maybe that’s just how relationships are.
Relying on each other a little was fine.
After figuring that out, Shu Ci leaned his full weight against him. “The rain will stop on Tuesday. Shall we go out that day?”
To fully focus on their date, Lu Xianyan compressed his workload into two days. He practically lived in the lab—first to arrive, last to leave.
Even during meal breaks, he constantly messaged Shu Ci, making sure Shu Ci’s time belonged to him and wasn’t spent chatting idly with others.
The academic atmosphere at Fog University was intense. Their advisor was capable—but demanding.
The others in the lab were already overwhelmed just trying to keep up with reading papers.
Yet beside them, Lu Xianyan worked like a precisely operating machine, fully bearing the pressure.
In the past two days, it was even more extreme—his workload had reached “mad scientist” levels.
A junior who had been staying up so much she looked like a panda asked, “Isn’t the group meeting this weekend? Why are you in such a hurry, senior?”
Lu Xianyan replied calmly, “I’m going on a date with my boyfriend.”
…Was there a cause-and-effect relationship between those two things?
The junior blinked, then remembered the Moments post he’d shared and excitedly gossiped, “Is it the one who came to the building entrance to see you last time?”
Lu Xianyan paused thoughtfully and corrected her with precision.
“It’s the pretty one.”
Hearing this, the others who had been quietly working gathered around.
They usually didn’t dare talk to Lu Xianyan much—his aura was too cold. But it was obvious that whenever he talked about his partner, he seemed… alive.